Remember Florence Perchuk, who left us a few years ago at age 93. Florence was a well-known and much-revered industry colleague who mentored many and learned from all. During a career that spanned more than five decades—she was still at it in her 90th year—she ran her own kitchen and bath design firm employing 24 people, worked for St. Charles Kitchen and Bath in the A&D Building, and worked on special projects for Electrolux out of her offices in the Fisk Building on West 57th Street.

Florence seemed to be everywhere all at once: out at industry events in the evenings, traveling to Promote the values of the NKBA brand as chapter president and events chair, and campaigning to promote and highlight women in the field. She was the first female to be a Certified Kitchen and Bath Designer in New York State. Magazines loved her, regularly publishing her work and quoting her perspectives, which were always future-focused.

Then there was the work itself. She thrived on it, relished it, valued it. She loved materials and products—the more cutting-edge, the better—and she had the client base to indulge her wildest whim: Madam Chaing Kai-shek, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Michael J. Fox, to name a few. She wasn’t known as the “Empress” of kitchen design for nothing!

Florence was born in "Upper West Sider" and studied and sang opera before becoming a kitchen and bath designer. It was a life-long passion. She was a season ticket-holder at the Metropolitan Opera and also took subscriptions to other theatrical happenings at the New York State Theatre, the Roundabout Theatre, and La Mama. She saw virtually everything that came to Broadway, but her favorite refrain as she dashed from any room was, “I have to fly; I’ve got opera, darling!”

Florence Perchuk was predeceased by her husband, Peter Perchuk, in 1997 but is survived by her sons, Andrew and Neil, a daughter-in-law, Alison, and two grandsons, Owen and Marlon. She spent the last decade of her reign living her “best life” in Palm Springs, California.